


Underestimation

by sibley (ferns)



Category: Miss 2059 (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, halfway to a fix-it but not quite, minor alien experimentation, trans character by both human and alien standards, warned for violence to be safe but its not that bad, yes i am still building this tag with my bare hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 17:58:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15442674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ferns/pseuds/sibley
Summary: Everyone underestimated him. It's what theydid.





	Underestimation

**Author's Note:**

> i am a dumb bitch and i will never change. i will never improve. i will continue to build this damn tag and you cannot stop me.

Everyone underestimated him. It’s what they  _ did. _

The other contestants in the tournament thought that Laheer was just another easy target, someone they could afford not to pick off outside of the ring simply because it would be so easy to do so later that they didn’t have to bother. Sure, he was a bit of a favorite with fans, because he knew how to work the innocent routine, but that was fine. They didn’t even realize he was a threat until he was killing them.

The Merge had thought that Laheer would be their pretty face, and he had played along. He had  _ liked  _ playing along, because he knew his place and he  _ enjoyed  _ it there. Even after he found out exactly what they were doing. And they trusted him, because they knew that he knew what they were doing and that he wasn’t going to do anything to stop it. They didn’t expect him to  _ really  _ join the rebellion, not really.

The Ghostcat’s crew thought that he wouldn’t be able to help them. That he only cared about himself. Payton had thought that just because Laheer didn’t care about  _ him,  _ that meant that he didn’t care about  _ anybody.  _ And that was wrong. He cared about himself, of course, they were certainly right about that, but he also cared about Victoria. And somehow he had started to care about Daphnii, too.

It was because he cared about Daphnii that he had ended up here. Somehow he couldn’t regret that. Somehow, he was proud of that. Years ago he wouldn’t have been able to imagine doing something that wouldn’t make him feel guilty. But years ago was before Victoria. Years ago was before a kid that needed help. Years ago was before this quarantine cell. Years ago was before Daphnii had clung to him until she couldn’t anymore, her breathing getting more labored by the second.

The guard outside the glass pane of the cell comes in sometimes. At least once a day. They don’t give him food and they won’t tell him about Daphnii (the translator he uses was damaged when they took him in, he’s sure of it-no wonder they look at him like that when he tries to ask about how she is) and they won’t let him leave. They just come in and force something into his mouth that tastes like it doesn’t belong in his body and is the color of the frosting on Arden and Victoria’s birthday cake.

Over and over again, Laheer tries to mime out to anyone watching that he needs to know where Daphnii is. If she’s okay. That he’s not going to hurt them unless they’ve hurt her. That he needs to talk to Victoria-he doesn’t know how to use Earth communication devices but they pried his phone out of his ear and he doesn’t know how to contact her without it. This primitive planet created someone like  _ Victoria- _ it must have something to offer.

He doesn’t know enough about whatever language they speak on Earth (Victoria said, once, that it was called ‘English’, but that that was just what some people like her spoke, not what  _ everyone  _ used, and that there were lots of languages and she didn’t know any of the other ones even though Arden knew, like, twenty, and kids used to tease her about it, and-) to read the file they keep on him within reading distance of his new hopefully temporary home, but he can guess some of it.

Clearly, they’ve run across others of his species before. Enough to tell what he is. And what he isn’t. One of them keeps coming in and marvelling over the healed over spots where he sawed off the protruding parts of his own horns, so people wouldn’t be able to guess things about him that he didn’t want them knowing. Laheer’s pretty sure Victoria knows, at least, because she knows about the rules for the contestants, and she knows he won. But that’s okay. He kind of wanted her to know.

Laheer can’t keep track of Earth time, but it’s at least one cycle before they tell him that Daphnii is alive. One of the people figured out what he wanted and brought a video of her on a white bed with tubes in her arms that are giving her stuff that’s a similar icky red color as her blood. He’s relieved. Now he doesn’t have to kill them, unless they try to get in the way of his escape. He just has to make sure they can’t stop him.

They always underestimate him. Everyone always underestimates him. Everyone always forgets that his species is the dominant one on his planet for a reason. Everyone always forgets that his sharp teeth, like Tri’s triple row of fangs, aren’t just for show.

The next time they come into his cell, he crawls back, making little whimpering noises and coughing to draw them in closer. At least it’s not that hard to fake not wanting to take that pink stuff-it’s  _ disgusting.  _ Laheer turns his head away when one of them reaches toward his mouth and then lashes out, biting down hard on their gloved hand.

Their scream is loud enough to bring other people running, but by that time he’s already taken off, sprinting down the hall and narrowly managing to avoid being caught by the people trying to shoot stun guns at his head. He needs to find Daphnii. He can’t exactly ask for directions, even if they  _ could  _ understand a word he was saying. But he  _ has  _ to find her. She’s just a kid, and she was so injured, and she needs to save the whole damn galaxy, and…

And then he sees her. One of the soldiers has her, one hand on her shoulder and the other one holding a gun against her temple. Not a stun gun this time. A real one. One that will blow her skull apart if he lets it. Which he’s  _ not going to. _

Daphnii doesn’t seem to recognize that the danger is real, because she’s squirming sluggishly against the soldier’s grip. She’s blinking slowly like she doesn’t recognize him, and there are bandages on her bare leg and smaller ones on her too-little arm, and he needs to get to her. Right now. He needs to get her away from that gun.

Laheer licks some of the blood away from his mouth. Yuck. Human blood is apparently disgusting. “Daphnii, it’s okay. It’s me. You know me. I’m your friend. I need-I need you to stay still.” He sees her eyes widen as she perks up, squirming a little bit more. “I’m going to get you out of there. I’m going to get you away from there. Try to stay still.”

He’s not sure if she can even understand a word he’s saying without his translator, but she’s clearly recognized him by now, because she’s struggling and trying to push the soldier and his gun away in earnest now. She’s smiling a little bit, wide and innocent like always, and he wonders if she can tell that he ripped open someone’s wrist to get to her.

And then the soldiers fall like puppets, leaving Daphnii smiling and small all alone in the middle of the hallway, and Laheer remembers that she’s a psychic. That they probably didn’t know that she was a psychic. That they couldn’t take measures against it because of that. Which means…

She half runs, half skips to him, throwing herself into his arms and beaming up at him. The blood from his lips and teeth smears onto the shoulder of the thin gown she’s wearing, but she doesn’t seem to mind, beaming up at him and shoving her head under his chin once she’s gotten a good grip around his chest. A scared little girl with a burn on the side of her head from where the muzzle of the stun gun on its very lowest setting scorched her skin.

“We need to find Victoria and Tri,” she says, and he can hear her voice crystal clear in his native tongue, just like he always has. But her translator shouldn’t affect him, unless…? No, it shouldn’t. Maybe it’s a psychic thing? Hasn’t she said before, back when things were relatively safe on the ship, that she doesn’t need a translator because of her… Abilities? “We need to find  _ everyone.  _ We have a galaxy to save, remember?”

“I don’t know where they are,” he groans, standing up with her still hugging onto his neck. She wraps her legs around his waist. Clearly, she’s feeling much better than she did the last time he had to carry her. At least these humans did  _ something  _ worthwhile outside of make Victoria. “They… They might be dead, Daph. You know that.”

Of  _ course  _ she didn’t. She’s a child. She’s, what, twelve by the standards of her species? Of course she hasn’t thought about the possibility that this might not work out. That the Merge might just kill them all if Arden and her new assimilated soldiers don’t do it first. Surely she’s seen that outcome, but Daphnii doesn’t let that sort of thing dictate her actions. Until they’ve lost, she’ll keep acting like they’re winning.

“I know they’re alive,” she says firmly. “We need to find them. The device I need isn’t here, I can tell, and they have to help us find it. I-I know they’re alive. They have to be alive. Come  _ on,  _ Laheer, you’ve got long spider legs, let’s get out of here before they wake up, because it’s not gonna last forever and I’ve never even tried to do something like that before and-”

Laheer starts moving before she can even finish, picking his way around the unconscious bodies surrounding them. They would’ve caught him if Daphnii hadn’t done that. They would have caught him and thrown him back in that clear box of a cell and never let him out again. He and Daphnii would’ve died there. Whether because Arden found them or because the Merge did or because these people themselves killed them both. He’s sure of it.

Daphnii points down the hallways like she’s been down all of them before, guiding him to the exit. It’s harder to carry her when she isn’t bleeding out. She’s more lively and difficult to hold on to. “That’s pretty much the only door in this whole place you can open without a pass. I think. It’s an emergency exit. Alarm will sound.”

“Well, at least we’ll be out of here.” Laheer shoves the door open and screws up his eyes, expecting harsh light, only to find a comfortable dim evening. Huh. Well. “Come on. Do you know where they are? Can you… Like… Sense them, or something?”

“...No,” she admits as he sets her down, wincing and covering her ears against the shrill blaring of the klaxon behind them. “I know they’re alive, they  _ must  _ be alive, I  _ saw  _ them in a vision, they have to be alive… I thought once we would be outside I could-I thought I’d be able to-why can’t I?”

“We’ll figure it out later,” he promises, grabbing her hand. It’s so tiny. She’s so tiny. And innocent despite this war. “Come on. We’ve got to run again. At least this time I don’t have to carry you.”

Daphnii takes a deep breath, tightens her grip on his fingers, and then lets him pull her along through the warm woods. Laheer wonders exactly how many people in that hellhole she had to take out for there to be no pursuit of them yet. Exactly how strong she’s gotten since the last time he saw her. Maybe one day she won’t even need that helmet device thing they’re supposed to be looking for.

But if she’s so strong, and she was even before this sudden blossom in ability, how come she can’t sense where their friends are? They can’t afford to think about it. About the possibility that the vision she had was wrong. Not right. They can’t afford that. They have to continue like everything is going to be okay. (He’ll pretend he’s faking it for Daphnii’s sake and not for his own. When you get good enough at lying to other people, you start getting good at lying to yourself, too. And it always seems to be Victoria that he’s lying to himself about.)

By the time the people who found them outside the base in the first place have started to search for them, shouting about how valuable Daphnii has turned out to be and how utterly disposable Laheer now is, the two of them are both long gone.

**Author's Note:**

> if you read this, you can find me never changing and being a dumb bitch as danteramon on tumblr.


End file.
